What are some different methods for attaching water bottles? I'd like to avoid drilling holes in the frame on my Electra Townie.

This has come up before, check out some of these links

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...=bottle+attach
https://sheldonbrown.com/harris/accessories.html#bottles
https://www.nordicgroup.us/cageboss/

Go to this link:

https://www.bicycleluggageracks.com/

Then look half way down the page for this link title below. Best summary I've seen

Adding Water Bottle Cages to Bicycles without Braze-Ons

I know a lot of people frown upon using quick-ties for attach water bottles, but I had nothing else to work with being from Korea, so I rigged up to bottle cages on my Surly Nice rack. Since I'm touring, being super aerodynamic is not a major concern for me. I will add a velcro support strap to the water cages to make sure they don't slip out on bumps. I've been riding with them for a while and have had no problems, I just slipped a piece of rubber between the pieces and it fit very snuggly.











Love the hideous blue bottles. I will also be adding a Minoura handlebar cage to the right side of my bars, I wanted to add the dual center cage, but my handelbar bag mount gets in the way. My goal is to have 7 bottles in all, 6 for water and 1 for camping fuel.

reckless, that looks excellent, I may copy that idea!

here's a bottle mounts in line with the fork, secure even on gravel roads and fast descents, added some bungies as added retention but don't use them anymore.

four bottles of water, one for fuel, and a water carrier to strap on a rack when lots of water is needed.

Ooo, Bekologist, that looks great. This would be a great arrangement for the mixte I'm setting up for touring -- because of the frame shape, it has only one set of bottle bosses.

Please, can you describe how your attached the cages to the low-riders? Thanks!

I just swapped out my inner-frame cages with Topeak Modula XL cages, they hold 1.5 liter bottles and are massive! They didn't fit together because of their size, so I messed around with the installation and got it to work by only attaching the front cage on the upper boss, placing a piece of rubber under the rest of the cage. Then I strapped a support quick-tie to the top to keep it from slipping. Works great. Then I moved those old cages onto my front Surly Nice Rack very similarly to Bekologist. The Surly Nice Rack has a flared tip on the back end of the rack which serves as a great vertical support post when securing cages. I also have SKS fenders on and the support beams on those fenders keep the water bottle cages from getting into the spokes. I simply installed some quick-ties to keep it on the rack and this weekend i will buy a couple of those screw-in clamps to keep it stable.

Here are some photos:

What a great idea! Thanks Reckless! I just installed my extra water bottle cage on my front Surly Nice rack. Now I need to get another water bottle cage for the other side. Maybe I'll install an extra large water bottle cage that will hold a 1 liter bottle!

Here is another view of the water bottle cage I've installed on my Surly Nice front rack:

Very innovative! Wonder if I will still be able to have the water bottle cages on my Surly Nice front rack, when I get my Ortlieb panniers ... ???